animal

pronunciation

How to pronounce animal in British English: UK [ˈænɪml] word uk audio image

How to pronounce animal in American English: US [ˈænɪml] word us audio image

Noun:

a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
Adjective:

of the appetites and passions of the body
of the nature of or characteristic of or derived from an animal or animals

Word Origin

animal: animal: [14] Etymologically, an animal is a being which breathes (compare DEER). Its immediate source was the Latin adjective animālis ‘having a soul’, a derivative of the noun anima ‘breath, soul’ (which also gave English the verb and adjective animate [15]). Anima is a member of a set of related words in which the notions of ‘breath, wind’ and ‘spirit, life’ are intimately connected: for instance, Greek ánemos ‘wind’ (possible source of English anemone), Latin animus ‘spirit, mind, courage, anger’ (source of English animosity [15] and animus [19]), Sanskrit ániti ‘breathe’, Old English ōthian ‘breathe’, Swedish anda ‘breath, spirit’, and Gothic usanan ‘breathe out’.The ‘breath’ sense is presumably primary, the ‘spirit, life’ sense a metaphorical extension of it.=> anemone, animate, animosity, animus

animal (n.): early 14c. (but rare before c. 1600, and not in KJV, 1611), "any living creature" (including humans), from Latin animale "living being, being which breathes," neuter of animalis "animate, living; of the air," from anima "breath, soul; a current of air" (see animus, and compare deer). Drove out the older beast in common usage. Used of brutish humans from 1580s.

animal (adj.): late 14c., from animal (n.). Animal rights is attested from 1879; animal liberation from 1973. Animal magnetism originally (1784) referred to mesmerism.

4. This summer , corn supplies for animal feed are heading for a 15-year low .

5. Yet how our animal urges express themselves is a strongly cultural and contingent affair .